Grandpa Bear Questions

[dougiefresh]

I have a lot of questions and a bunch of photos of my grandpa bear and how it's setup on a glass enclosed attached patio. I bought the house coming up on a year ago aND have burned about 1/3 cord seasoned Wood in it.

Prior to becoming the owner, the house was empty for 7 years and was in the hands of a single serious 'handyman', bless his heart, and his family since construction in 1950. No idea when the stove was installed. There are cracks on both sides of the top of the opening

I've been cooking crockpot style recipes on it. The original owners did all of the cooking on it their children tell me.

I've been building fires in just half of the stove which allows me to quickly change the temp with just one vent.

Here's a link many pics https://goo.gl/photos/5tP7i8ANt8DfsYrt6

Lou

Bj?

 

[coaly]

Welcome to the Forum;
I gave you your own thread for detailed responses for your stove and installation.

It is a 1977 Grandpa (the first year for the Grandpa was the Bicentennial Edition with 76 within the right door star, and was removed for early '77) Later that year the trees became the smaller design without stars.
The markings on the bottom confirm it was made by Fisher South East in Watkinsville GA. You may know right where Dory's is just south of you. That's the building it was built in, and the first stove built by them (Papa Bear) is now in their showroom. It is pictured here in the forum and CamFan member here uses it in his avatar. He was a welder then, and married the step daughter of the licensee to build the stoves. Introduce yourself and tell them Paul said hi !
If you clean up the initials in weld on the bottom, he may be able to tell you who made it. Marks in weld under stove is the person who welded box, under ash fender (shelf) was initials of welder cutting vent, hanging doors and ash fender. That was done when boxes were made over the summer and finished as needed when sold. Using the search feature on this forum at top right, search Carl Baughman within this forum for more information on this fabricator.

The pieces of door gasket may be preventing proper sealing or doors. Door gasket is not required and the round steel rod is the door seal making them "air tight" as built. Many people add gasket material not knowing that was one of the benefits of Fisher not needed to replace worn out door gasket material.

 

[dougiefresh]

Thanks so much, coaly! I bet the former owners of our house new the people who built it. When I bought firewood, the guy who dropped the wood off new them. The Berryman family.

I will remove the gasket material and see if I can make it burn longer.